Assateague Island National Seashore & Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge
After swinging wide around New York City, we had planned to visit Delaware Gap National Recreation Area, which is on the border between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. But the weather called for rain for several days and we didn’t feel like waiting around so we carried on into (and through) New Jersey.
We stayed a couple nights in a remote wilderness campground in New Jersey’s pine barrens, which were actually fairly pretty to drive through.
Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey
We found the birds! I took almost no photos in this refuge because most of the birds were far off and the light was poor, but we counted dozens of Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, and Double-crested Cormorants. We also did NOT count the several hundred ducks, gulls, and shorebirds that were too far away to identify.
I’m sharing the first photo of an American Bittern not because it’s a great a photo, but because:
I’m impressed I saw it.
I’m impressed my camera’s auto-focus grabbed it.
I’m sharing the second photo of the Great Egret because it’s the kind of bird photo that I’m trying to work towards.
Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware
Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland
Molly is a big horse dork, so we had to visit this park that has wild ponies. Unlike a lot of “wild” horse herds in the U.S., these ponies are completely unmanaged. They are also, in my opinion, the most boring horses I’ve ever seen. I had a vague idea of the kind of photos I wanted to take of these guys, I had a great environment, good light, and…I had horses that were either asleep standing up or were too focused on eating grass to ever lift their heads up.
Cute ponies, bad models.
Sanderlings
You know who were great photography subjects? These Sanderlings. These little guys were running around like crazy, racing out into the wet sand between every wave, trying to find worms and mollusks to eat.
Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia
We didn’t see a lot of birds on the wildlife loop in this refuge, but near the end there were several Bald Eagles of various ages in the trees around a marsh. We watched this juvenile harass some of the older eagles until one took flight and they play-fought through the air for several minutes. They were too far away for good photos but it was a lot of fun to witness.
Driving further into the refuge, we came around a corner and hit the jackpot. There was a culvert creating turbulence in a stream, trapping hundreds of tiny fish, which made easy pickings for a bunch of Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets. The stream was right next to the road so we were able to get really close without disturbing the birds. I had just said I wanted to see a White Ibis, and there one was in a nearby tree.
